The present invention relates to an optical disk player having a magazine for storing disks which permits the playing of selected disks from the magazine, and more particularly, to a disk player having a magazine holding disks on pivotally mounted stacked carriages and a separator device for extracting carriages from the magazine. Furthermore, the disk player has a disk reader for reading selected disks which are partially withdrawn from the magazine thereby permitting a compact construction.
Disk players having magazines for storing disks typically provide a selecting apparatus for transporting a selected disk from the magazine and to a disk reader or an ejection position. One such disk player is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 63-29375. The disk player has a magazine wherein carriages are stacked upon each other. The carriages are individually withdrawn by being pulled from the magazine. As a selected carriage is pulled from the magazine a carriage above the selected carriage is displaced away from the selected carriage. The displacement is accomplished by means of a protrusion on a top surface of the selected carriage disengaging from a recess on a bottom surface of the carriage above it. Such a disengaging operation does not permit smooth operation of the magazine. Furthermore, since the carriages are stacked, additional means must be provided to prevent a carriage below the selected carriage from being pulled from the magazine along with the selected carriage which further complicates the mechanism and increases the cost of production. Thus, an efficient means for removing carriages from a stacked magazine is required.
Disk players are also provided with carriages having a pair of concentric circular recesses for accepting both 12 cm and 8 cm disks. A disk player having such dual recess carriages is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 4-38662. The dual recess carriages are, however, thicker than single recess carriages and thus result in a bulkier magazine than a magazine including only single recess carriages. Thus, a improved method of providing a low profile magazine having the capability of storing both an 8 cm disk and 12 cm disks is required.